Mark Hoban: The "Debt and reserves management report 2011-12" is being published today. Copies have been deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.

Eric Pickles: I am pleased to inform the House that all eligible local, fire and rescue and police authorities in England have decided to freeze or reduce their band D council tax in 2011-12 and will therefore all be eligible to receive the additional grant offered by the Government for doing so. The average band D rate of council tax will remain at £1,439-a change of 0%. This is the lowest ever change in the entire history of council tax. It represents a cash-terms freeze, and a real-terms cut in council tax. The capping threshold in recent years was a 5% council tax rise. Stopping such a rise this year saves a typical household up to £72 and if an average 2.5% rise had occurred the saving would have been £36.
	Council tax payers in some areas may see a small cash increase in their overall bill due to precept increases set by town and parish councils; central Government have no remit over such precepts. However, nationally, this is offset by some councils which are making cash-terms reductions to council tax levels.
	The Government have delivered on their promise to work with authorities to produce a council tax freeze in England, which is tremendous news for hard-working families and pensioners who have experienced a doubling of council tax since 1997.
	The spending review made £650 million available for the council tax freeze. Where an authority has not increased its basic amount of council tax in 2011-12 compared with 2010-11, it will receive a grant equivalent to a 2.5% increase in its 2010-11 band D figure multiplied by the latest available tax base figure.
	My Department will write to individual local authorities this week informing them of the amount of freeze grant I propose to pay to them during 2011-12. I intend the grant to be paid in 10 equal monthly instalments from April 2011 through to January 2012. Following the 100% response to the freeze by eligible authorities, no further capping action is required in 2011-12.
	Although the council tax freeze is only for one year, financial provision is made to support the freeze across the spending review. This will "lock in" the benefits of this year's freeze over each year over the spending review.
	Moving forward, the Localism Bill makes provision for the abolition of central Government capping powers, replacing them with new, binding council tax referendums from 2012-13 whenever an authority is proposing an excessive increase.
	The Government have also protected families from potential increases in council tax by ruling out a council tax revaluation in England for the remainder of this Parliament. The Localism Bill also legislates to abolish bin taxes-which would have entailed new charges for household waste collections for many families on top of council tax.

Eric Pickles: The growth review has announced that the Government will act to remove barriers to more open and efficient local public services including guidance on work force matters. I wish to provide the House with a detailed update on our approach, including plans to discuss with employers, employee representatives and others whether any alternative arrangements might be useful in the future.
	I am revoking, with immediate effect, the guidance on work force matters which formed part of the last Administration's best value regime. This is the handling of work force matters in contracting and the code of practice on work force matters in local authority service contracts ("the two tier code") ("Annexes C and D plus paragraphs 28 to 31 of ODPM Circular 03/2003") and corresponding guidance applicable to fire and rescue authorities and the Greater London Authority ("ODPM circulars 07/2003 for the GLA and 09/2004 for the Fire and Rescue Service").
	Councils, the voluntary sector and businesses-especially small firms-have called on the Government to remove unnecessary burdens and barriers that act to prevent fair and open competition. Removing this guidance will help create a level playing field, ensure more opportunities for innovation, help ensure better value for taxpayers' money in the provision of public services, and remove red tape that hinders job creation.
	The withdrawal of the two-tier code will not impact on existing TUPE regulations and provisions in the Employment Act 2008 or other employment legislation. There may be instances where contracts will be due for renewal or are currently out to tender and it will be a matter for local authorities to take legal advice on the particular contract specifications and circumstances. The abolition will not be applied retrospectively. Therefore existing contracts and the employment terms that flow from them will not be affected by withdrawal of the code.
	I will be writing over the coming days to employers, employee representatives and others to invite their views on whether there might be anything, such as a statement of good employment principles in place of the code, that would be helpful for the future.

George Young: In September, I informed the House that the Government had decided that the current Session of Parliament should run until the spring of 2012. This was in order to ensure a smooth transition towards five, 12-month Sessions over a Parliament, which would be a beneficial consequence of Parliament agreeing the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill.
	I have tabled a motion, which appears on the Order Paper today, which has the effect of providing extra days for the consideration of Private Members' Bills in this Session. The extra dates to be provided are 9 September 2011, 21 October 2011, 25 November 2011 and 20 January 2012. Bills will have precedence on those days in accordance with the established order set out in paragraph (5) of Standing Order No.14.
	The Government are also mindful that, due to the longer than usual current Session, extra provision will be necessary for Opposition days and Backbench Business days. No changes to Standing Orders are necessary to accommodate adequate extra provision in these two instances, and I will announce the provision of extra time through the weekly business statement as usual.